On the occasion of its annual conference, Amazon has just presented its future products coming to the market. Among them, the new versions of the Fire TV Stick, the TV dongles from the American manufacturer. For this 2023 edition, Amazon has made some significant changes, starting with support for Wi-Fi 6e and the integration of the Fire TV Dynamic Screen functionality.
Like every year, Amazon holds its annual conference to present its future products coming to the market. The e-commerce giant notably lifted the veil on September 20, 2023 on the Echo Show 8 and Echo Hub, two new smart speakers powered by Alexa. But of course, Amazon also had a few surprises up its sleeve TV dongles.
For beginners, TV Dongles are presented as HDMI keys which simply allow you to transform a classic TV into a smart TV. As a result, the user can now access all the apps that can be found on a Smart TV, starting with streaming services like Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video of course.
In this growing market, Amazon has made a place for itself with Fire Stick TVs, entry-level TV sticks. Well, the American company has just announced the launch of two new Fire Stick TVs “smarter and more powerful”.
Fire Stick TV 4K Max: Wi-Fi 6E and 4K on the program
We first start with the Fire Stick TV 4K Max. According to Amazon, it has revised all the sliders upwards on this TV dongle: more power, speed and storage capacity. Thus, we move on to a 2.0 GHz quad-core processorwhich makes it the fastest TV stick in Amazon’s range.
But that’s not all. The Fire Stick TV 4K Max is also the first streaming device to support Wi-Fi 6E. In fact, if you have an internet box compatible with the latest standard, you will be able to benefit from lower latency and faster throughput. Finally and as its name suggests, this dongle offers an image in 4K. Note that it also supports Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR 10+ and Dolby Atmos.
Concerning the storage capacity, it has been doubled, going from 8 to 16 GB on this new generation. Enough to store even more applications and games directly on the device. Please note that the key is accompanied by a new Alexa voice remote “Enhanced Edition”which offer dedicated channel buttons and a “Recents” button to instantly access the last used app/channel.
Finally, we must also mention the integration of a nice and somewhat gadget-like feature: the Fire TV Dynamic Screen experience (visible above). The principle is simple: transform your TV into an animated art gallery when you’re not using it to play or watch your favorite series. According to Amazon, users will be able to enjoy a collection of 2,000 free works of art. If you’ve ever dreamed of having the Mona Lisa at home, here’s an alternative.
Fire TV Stick 4K: the entry-level TV dongle gains power
Now let’s come to the Fire TV Stick 4K, Amazon’s new entry-level proposition. To summarize the device, we find the same design as on the previous generation. It’s under the hood that we find all the improvements:
- a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor for 30% more power compared to the previous model
- Wi-Fi 6 support
- 4K image quality
- Dolby Vision, HDR, HLG and HDR10+ support
Unlike the Fire Stick TV 4K Max, you will have to do without the Fire TV Dynamic Screen on this version.
Price and Availability
If you are ever interested in one of its two TV dongles, know that Amazon has already opened pre-orders for a launch scheduled for October 18, 2023. Here are the prices: €79.99 for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and €69.99 for the Fire TV Stick 4K.